Shannon Drawe
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Man, I guess there are more dirty words than in the past. First, it was autofocus versus manual. Then it was digital versus film. Then it was manual versus program. Then it was live view versus no view. Then it will be video versus no video. Then it will be Coke versus New Coke. Where does it end??? shannon
I think it safe to say the “dirty word” “live view” will be an everyday part of the professional’s vernacular. The D300 has it and I am
Jeez. I forgot how much those cost. They definitely appeal to the fly fisher in us. I have been overjoyed with my LowePro DZ200, but am not sure of the price difference. shannon
That is a good reference, but taken with a small grain of salt – the small annotations at the end of the ranges contain some wishful thinking as far as lenses being updated, and VR on a 17-55? … hardly necessary. shannon
I actually have no idea the US cost comparison between Elinchrom and Profoto. Elinchrom certainly has a superior reputation for quality and quality of light. Sounds like Elinchrom has a distinct advantage over Profoto. Virtually all Profoto power sources can be purchased with built in receiver, but the added cost isn’t worth it in my opinion.
Now, what are Skyports?
Marvelous images Chad! I gave up the band scene (for profit) a long time ago – they seem to be the only people with less money than photographers.
ShannonI am looking at a 5 year unrestricted licensing agreement. Â Just need to figure out if it will be on a per-image or a per-project cost basis. Â The easy part in the formula for me are the pictures themselves (i.e. novel images that [literally] nobody else can produce right now). Â
— The most valuable element is the last one in my opinion – you’re the only one who can produce the images. Bonu$ for that.
If you price per project, then you eliminate the chance of a pick-and-choose format for purchase. There’s an older way of pricing, and as I recall, part of their justification for pricing by the job (not hour, not day and not per-image) is, “When you go in to buy a car, do you ask what the steering wheel costs?” Â Paraphrasing now – “Then, why give a client the option that could sell them a car with no steering wheel”. There are just things clients don’t need to know or worry about or have an opportunity to itemize.
If you are the book type, I think Heron & MacTavish’s – http://www.amazon.com/Pricing-Photography-Complete-Assignment-Prices/dp/1581152078/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228879248&sr=8-1 Â could be a good ingredient to pricing.
One ingredient I have added to my pricing in the final quarter of this year is – deflation. It is real, and it is happening in my business sector now.
Realistically, the price you come up with will be the right price for you. These days it is as mysterious as it ever was.
shannonExcellent stuff! My brain is swelling, but excellent. The day I have a client who can tell the difference, is the day I start to worry about when I sharpen. In the early days of the revolution it was much more critical in my brain swollen opinion. shannon
It IS difficult to knock Sony the new Sony DSLR’s for sure. I just finished a private lesson for a lady who owns one, and I was pleasantly surprised at every feature I discovered. Sony does offer a lot of bang for the buck – in a camera body. Heck, this may be urban myth, but I am of the understanding that some of the big boys have Sony sensors inside. Correct me if I am wrong on that one.
Here’s the drawback – the other majors (N & C) still have the glass – hands down – unless you include the ZEISS lenses in your selection process. That is the only real drawback I can find though, and put Sony at a solid #3. Then there’s the Betamax vs. VHS argument – how committed is Sony? They look like a real player to me.
shannon
A low-pass capture sharpening should be done immediately after importing the image into PS from the raw converter —-
Can I get more details on how you do this? I currently seem to like the Aperture converters better, but I don’t play favorites when it comes to conversions.
ShannonAnd that sharpening and contrast means you are sacrificing image data (lossy). As I recall, there are also options as to how large a rendering of a thumbnail and/or rendering of the image is used in viewing to make your changes to that file. The larger the file you work on, the slower the rendering,
It’s difficult to make static objects look sexy. Sometimes, the beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The good thing is you seem to have used depth-of-field to your advantage. The difficult thing is that a plain white background (which I use a lot for products) can relegate an image – of anything – to the category of “catalog shot”. If that’s what you want, you nailed it. The flavor right now looks to be streamside, young guns, selective focus, extreme conditions – all very difficult to accomplish, and costly to produce.
The trends are easy to spot though – much like the hundreds of covers with young ladies pulling the front of their pants,bikinis,skirts and whatever – down in front with their freshly manicured thumbs.
I ramble,
shannonMr. King is dead on — “Monitors vary so much and settings on any given machine can be whacked”. It doesn’t matter what you do if ALL the monitors aren’t calibrated, you are only as strong as your weakest link. I have actually gone in and calibrated monitors for clients in the past. I am also thinking there’s a way to export color settings as a sidecar file for your image … but if a monitor is off – it’s off.
shannonI shoot both Profoto monos and pack powered. They have worked great for years now, and are crazy expensive. That said, by no means do you want to plug a modern DSLR directly into a synch cord and to a power pack or monolight. There are many ways to trigger your lights and none of them are free, or as cheap as a synch cord. The flip side – hook a DLSR to a synch cord and fry your DSLR. Everyone I know in the business triggers with Pocket Wizards. They have great range and now are made as transceiver meaning they can both transmit and receive trigger signal. The option of triggering via slave is a good one (as recommended), but less reliable.
As expensive as Profoto is, I imagine anything with the “Elinchrom” name cost even more – top shelf all the way.
Alien Bees have been around for years, have a good pedigree and spectacular warranty / service history. Very reasonably priced too.
Now in house brands like Calumet … these are a maximum profit for Calumet. Calumet does not make these, they put their name on them, so who does actually make them? It could be good, and it could be bad. Having to even ask that question should give one pause.
As far as constant light sources – like for video? If yes, you have to remember heads have fans in them and that means noise. If you are wanting to shoot stills with a constant light source, why have strobes? They (strobes) are expensive and pretty weak when just shooting with the modeling light.
I use everything from a ring light to 4’x6′ softboxes depending on circumstances. What you will probably find as you start down this path is you will eventually want them all – umbrellas, softboxes, snoots, grid spots, barndoors … heck it sounds just like fly fishing but more expensive! You can tell, by how everyone’s list grows, lights are only the beginning.
shannonYES! That is a very accurate observation about tonality of images, and one I completely overlooked. However, in the old days that tonality was “cooked in” to a negative. Nowadays, Photoshop can handle that in less than a second. Still, there is that very accurate comparison of Zeiss vs. Leica.(For the ultimate in Leica sharpness – see early Sebastiao Salgado) I have rarely been unable to overcome an image that is “too sharp”. With Photoshop, and some affordable plugins (secret weapons), or built in filters properly set; I would much rather start out too sharp than try to make sharper. I would also rather start out with extreme tonal range than trying to create tonality – digital or negative printing. All that said, macros really are for macro work, and the lenses intended for portraiture have complimentary compression and a well thought out balance of sharpness of tonality – most assuredly. shannon
For goodness sake, if you can get CS4 for 1/2 off – do it! I find that improbable though. Full version vs. Photoshop version is a non-sequitur. Many professionals I know use tablets exclusively – not even using a mouse any longer. I find 1/2 off any Adobe product almost “too good to be true”. shannon
